A crypto payment card with no published fee table — good for EU residents, unclear on paper

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

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The Trade Republic card is one of the more interesting ideas in the crypto-card category, and one of the harder ones to write a straight review of. The product is real, the issuer is a named bank in Berlin, and thousands of people use it every day. But the card’s own public pages describe the feature in a single sentence — that you can pay with crypto you hold with Trade Republic — and leave the amounts, the coin list, the limits and the eligibility rules largely unpublished. So a large part of this review is about what I could confirm, and what I could only find in third-party write-ups that Trade Republic itself does not confirm.

I scored it 7.2 out of 10. That is a good score for a genuinely useful product with thin documentation, not a score that means “unquestionable”.

Conditions are current as of October 28, 2026.

Verdict: 7.2 / 10, and the gap in the score is about paperwork, not about the card working

The card suits people who already hold crypto at Trade Republic, live in the EU, and want to spend it at ordinary shops without converting it in advance. If that is you, this is one of the more interesting cards available: the crypto is converted at the moment of payment, and the spend itself counts as a sale of the crypto, which has tax consequences you should understand before you start.

It does not suit you if you need a published price list. I could not find official amounts for issuance, monthly fees, conversion costs or spending limits. I could find third-party figures, and I will give them to you below clearly marked as unofficial, but they are not the bank’s word and they are the kind of number that changes.

The score itself breaks down like this. Every number is mine from the same check; the reasons are in my words.

Read that table as a shape, not a verdict on your life. The two 9s are the ones that matter most day to day, and they are earned by the reviews rather than by the documentation. The two 5s are both documentation gaps, and both of them — who can get it, what it costs to top up — are questions you will want answered before you commit money.

Who will they give you the card?

Short answer: I cannot tell you from the official pages, and that is the honest state of it. The product is German and EU based — the site runs en-de and en-nl versions, and the issuer is Trade Republic Bank GmbH — but the country eligibility list is not disclosed in anything readable on those pages. So the answer to “is it available in my country?” is not something this review can resolve for you.

That matters more than it might sound. Almost every card in this category draws a line somewhere, and the line is usually drawn by residence or by registration rather than by citizenship. If you are outside the EU, the sensible assumption is that this is not for you, and the sensible next step is to ask Trade Republic directly rather than to work it out from a review like mine.

One structural point does hold up, and it is worth knowing before you apply to anything. A payment card number starts with a six- or eight-digit issuer identification number that says which institution issued it and where. Merchants can look that up, and a card issued in Germany can look foreign to a shop in another country, which is a common reason payments are declined. Trade Republic’s issuer is named as Trade Republic Bank, Berlin — a real, licensed bank in a regulated market, not a brand name over an offshore entity. That is the part I can tell you.

How to get it

The card is “The Trade Republic Card” from Trade Republic Bank, Berlin. The network it runs on and whether your version is virtual or physical are not stated in the readable text. Identity verification is not stated officially either. How long delivery takes is not stated.

What third parties say, and this is unofficial and not confirmed by the card: the virtual card is usable immediately after you open your account, and a replacement costs the same as the original — 5 EUR for Classic, 50 EUR for Mirror — whether you lost it, it was stolen, or it expired. Delivery time is not stated even there. So the honest answer to “how do I get it” is: open the account, expect to be able to use the virtual version quickly if the unofficial reporting holds, and do not plan your month around a physical card arriving on a date nobody publishes.

Fees: what it really costs

This is the section I spent longest on, because it is the one where the reader’s money moves. Here is the position in plain terms: Trade Republic’s official pages do not publish the amounts. I found figures on third-party card-review sites, and I am giving them to you below because leaving you with nothing would be worse than labelling them, but I have not been able to confirm any of them with the bank.

Now let me take three ordinary payments and show you which lines apply, because a fee table on its own does not tell you what you will pay on a Tuesday.

A coffee in Berlin, paid from a crypto balance. The card converts your crypto at the moment of payment and the spend counts as a sale of the crypto. No card-specific fee is mentioned in the press release, and third parties say there is no foreign-currency surcharge because the official Visa rate is used. In practice the conversion cost on a euro purchase in a euro country is the crypto spread — the gap between the market price and the price you get — and the bank does not publish that spread either. This is where the real cost lives, and it is not in the table above.

A coffee in a country that is not the euro area. Same conversion, but the Visa exchange rate applies. Third parties say there is no surcharge on top of it. What you cannot avoid is the crypto-side cost, and the ATM operator fee if you are at a cash machine rather than a till.

A cash withdrawal of 80 EUR. Here the unofficial numbers bite hardest: under the reported threshold of 100 EUR, a 1 EUR fee. Over it, free. The card’s own page says ATM withdrawals are free worldwide without publishing a threshold, so the threshold in that table is a third-party claim. And note the last row of that line: the ATM operator may charge you separately, and that one is nobody’s card fee at all.

Two other costs sit behind this. Crypto trading at Trade Republic is commission-free, with a third-party cost of 1 EUR per trade. And spending crypto is a disposal of an asset, which in most jurisdictions has tax consequences — I am not going to advise you on any of that, but I will not let you read “no fees” as “no consequences”.

Top up: how the card gets money

Officially, one sentence: customers can use crypto held with Trade Republic for card payments. The list of coins is not disclosed. How to top up officially, and how to withdraw, are not stated.

So the mechanism, unofficially, is that you hold crypto, and paying with the card converts part of it. Top-up by SEPA transfer is reported as free; top-up by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay is reported as costing 1% of the amount. If you are moving money in from outside a crypto balance, that 1% is the number to plan around, and it is not the bank’s published figure.

There is one more cost here that has nothing to do with Trade Republic. On-chain network fees for a deposit are charged by the blockchain, not by the card provider. And the network question matters more than people expect: blockchain transfers are irreversible, so a deposit sent on a network the provider does not support can be lost or need manual support recovery with no guarantee. That is not a Trade Republic risk; it is a property of the rails. There is a documented case in this category of a user in Portugal complaining in July 2026 about a crypto deposit address that carried no network warning.

Paying with it every day

Everyday use is where this card scores best, and the reasons are the ones you would hope for. Third parties report three versions — virtual, Classic and Mirror — with Mirror differing only by a metal casing and the same fees and limits. Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported, with the card added in the app.

Rewards are the interesting part, and the official pages give two different figures, which is worth sitting with. The press release from 14 November 2025 describes 2% Crypto Saveback on card spend, reinvested into a savings plan, up to 1,500 EUR monthly spend. The card page says 1% Saveback on card payments. Third parties describe a 1% Saveback into a savings plan of at least 50 EUR a month, capped at 15 EUR a month, not paid on transfers, ATM withdrawals, investments, top-ups, PayPal, gambling and quasi-cash. One review says crypto-funded payments earn 2% with a cap of 30 EUR since the end of 2025. And there is a further unofficial report that Trade Republic changed the Saveback terms and a user lost their 1%.

Read that as: the rewards exist, the rate is somewhere between 1% and 2% depending on how the payment is funded, and the terms have moved at least once. Do not build a budget on it.

On mobile payments, note that Apple Pay replaces your card number with a device-specific number stored in the phone’s secure hardware, never on Apple’s servers, and each payment uses a one-time code. The issuer can restrict a tokenised number — for example block it on magnetic-stripe or website payments — so a card that works in a shop may not work everywhere online.

One everyday thing that catches people out: declined payments can leave a hold on your funds for several days, typically up to seven. A card that declines does not always leave your balance alone immediately.

What can go wrong

The support and blocks theme. The Trustpilot picture is strong — 4.6 out of 5 from 67,608 reviews, 11% one-star, most visible reviews positive, and the latest review from 20 October 2026. One says plainly that the card works worldwide. But the older and broader complaint themes against Trade Republic are slow or hard-to-reach support, high crypto spreads, and account blocks that are hard to resolve. German press has reported rising complaints to BaFin, though I could not pin the date. Crucially, I found no complaint theme about crypto spending with the card itself. That is reassuring about the feature and less reassuring about what happens when something goes wrong with the account behind it.

Frozen accounts. Under EU rules, if customer due diligence cannot be completed, the institution must hold back from the transaction or relationship and, where necessary, end existing relationships. That is why accounts get closed or frozen pending documents — it is the system working as designed, but it is also what it feels like when your money is stuck and the support line is slow.

Tax. Spending crypto is a sale. In the US the IRS treats digital assets as property, so each payment may be a separate disposal measured at fair market value on the day. I am not your tax adviser and this is not advice — but treat every card payment as a taxable event until a professional tells you otherwise.

Counterparty risk. Holding funds with a custodian has a history: Mt. Gox, about US$350 million reported stolen between 2011 and 2014; Coincheck, about US$400 million in 2018; Ronin Network, US$625 million in 2022. And card programmes themselves have been switched off: WaveCrest was suspended by Visa in Europe in 2018, closing all its Visa programmes, and Visa terminated its global agreements with FTX on 13 November 2022. Neither is Trade Republic. They are the reason the category deserves more than a glance.

Merchant declines. Some shops decline prepaid or foreign-issued cards because the BIN lookup reveals the card type and issuer country. A German-issued card used abroad can be declined for being German. That is not a fault in your card.

Saveback changes. Already noted. The terms have reportedly moved, and one user reportedly lost the 1%.

What to take instead

If the gap in documentation is what stops you, these are the three I would weigh. None is clearly better; they trade differently.

International Visa Card — 6.7 / 10. A U.S.-issued Platinum Visa card, virtual, paying in USD; the physical card is listed as coming soon. Virtual issuance $5 one-time, no maintenance fee; plans Classic free, Pro $9.00/month, Max $19.00/month. Card use in USD is free on all plans; foreign currency carries “Visa exchange rate + 2% FX fee”; deposits of any kind are free. No cashback stated. Its eligibility list is the one thing it publishes in full, and it is a long one: residents and legal registrants of Belarus, mainland China, North Korea, Cuba, India, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela are excluded, FATF grey-list countries are reviewed case by case, and purchases are blocked in North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. The rule follows residence or registration, not citizenship. If you are in the EU, this buys you nothing — but if transparency about who can sign up is what you want, it shows you what a card that publishes its rules looks like.

UNi Card — 6.1 / 10. A multicurrency card on the Mastercard network, spending from the UNi.Global account balance. No annual fee and no foreign transaction fee; assets converted at live OTC rates, with “no hidden exchange fees”; “Spend-to-Earn rewards” up to 3%. Eligibility and funding are not stated. Attractive on paper, thin on facts.

Whop Cards — 5.2 / 10. Visa, working anywhere Visa is accepted. Consumer coverage is 31 US states, business coverage 41, with a named list of unsupported consumer countries that overlaps heavily with the first card’s. The page says “No extra fees” without listing any amount, and fees are not stated. Spending draws on a Whop balance, and pending balance is usable as soon as a payment arrives. 5% cashback at select merchants, currently Uber. Built for sellers and creators, not for you.

Who I would recommend it to

I would recommend this card to you if all three of these are true. You live in the EU. You already hold crypto with Trade Republic, or you are comfortable holding it there. And you want to spend crypto at ordinary shops without thinking about it — the conversion happening at the till rather than on a screen beforehand.

I would not recommend it to you if you need to know the fee before you spend. If you are outside the EU, if you need a physical card in your hand next week, or if you are the kind of person who will not sleep until you have seen the conversion rate in writing, this is not the card for you — and there is nothing wrong with you for that.

And a closing caution I keep coming back to. This card depends on two licences, not one: MiCA covers the crypto side, and payment-services law covers the card. EMIs must safeguard customer funds by segregating them or insuring them, but those funds are not bank deposits and may not sit under a deposit guarantee scheme. Separately, stablecoins are not censorship-proof — Tether says it disables tokens in wallets on the OFAC sanctions list and has frozen funds tied to illicit activity. None of that is a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to hold less than you would like to.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Trade Republic card?

It is a payment card issued by Trade Republic Bank, Berlin, that lets you pay at ordinary shops using crypto held in your Trade Republic account. The conversion happens at the moment of payment, and the payment counts as a sale of the crypto. The card is sold in three versions according to third parties — virtual, Classic and Mirror — with Mirror differing only by a metal casing.

How does the Trade Republic card actually work?

Your crypto is converted to fiat value as you spend, and the card draws on that. Unlike a classic debit card tied to a bank account, this behaves more like a card on a stored balance, so it spends what is there and cannot overdraw. The catch is that the exact conversion cost is the crypto spread, which the official pages do not publish.

Is Trade Republic a bank, and who owns it?

The card’s issuer is Trade Republic Bank GmbH, based at Brunnenstrasse 19-21, 10119 Berlin. That makes it a named bank in a regulated market rather than a brand over an offshore entity. Licence and BIN sponsor details are not stated in the readable text, so I would check them yourself before depositing a large sum.

Can I get the card in my country?

I cannot tell you, and that is the honest answer. The product is German and EU based, with en-de and en-nl site versions, but the country list is not disclosed in readable official pages. If you are outside the EU, assume it is not available and ask Trade Republic directly rather than relying on any review, including this one.

Does the card require KYC, and how do I apply?

Both the identity verification requirements and the application steps are not stated in the readable pages. What is general: EU rules require customer due diligence covering identity, address, date of birth, nationality, a sanctions check and whether you are a politically exposed person, and if that cannot be completed the institution holds back from the transaction or ends the relationship.

Is the Trade Republic card free?

Officially, the amounts are not published. Third-party sources report the virtual card at 0 EUR, Classic at 5 EUR one-time and Mirror at 50 EUR one-time, with no annual or monthly fee. Those are not confirmed by the card, so treat them as the best available figures rather than as a price list.

How much does it cost to top up, and what about ATM withdrawals?

Unofficial figures: SEPA transfer is free, while top-up by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay costs 1% of the amount. ATM withdrawals are stated as free worldwide on the card page; third parties add that 100 EUR or more is free at Visa ATMs and below that a 1 EUR fee applies, and the ATM operator may charge separately.

What are the limits, and can I add it to Apple Wallet?

Spending limits are not stated officially. Third parties report 1,500 EUR per day and 6,000 EUR per week, with no separate point-of-sale limit given. Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported according to third parties, with the card added in the app.

Is it safe, and can I trust it?

There is a real bank behind it, and the Trustpilot picture is good — 4.6 out of 5 from 67,608 reviews. But crypto at a custodian carries counterparty risk with a documented history, and the broader complaints against Trade Republic concern slow support, high crypto spreads and hard-to-resolve account blocks. No complaint specific to the card itself did I find.

Is the card worth it, and what about the cashback?

If you already hold crypto with Trade Republic and live in the EU, the convenience is real. The cashback is less firm than it looks: the press release from 14 November 2025 describes 2% Crypto Saveback while the card page says 1%, third parties report caps at 15 or 30 EUR a month depending on funding, and there is an unofficial report that the terms changed and a user lost the 1%.

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